CCAGW Joins Coalition Supporting Sugar Policy Modernization Act

February 21, 2018 11:34 AM Eastern Standard Time

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), along
with 22 other leading taxpayer organizations, sent a letter
to the House of Representatives and the Senate, urging them to support
S. 2086 and H.R. 4265, the Sugar Policy Modernization Act of 2017.

The letter reads:

“The U.S. sugar program, enacted in 1934, is an outdated, Soviet-style
command-and-control scheme that uses import quotas, loans, marketing
allotments, price supports, and tariffs to artificially inflate the
price of sugar. The federal government establishes a minimum price for
sugar in the U.S., which averages roughly double the world price. The
government also imposes marketing controls, limiting how much sugar
processors are allowed to sell. These allotments are enforced and
administered by a small cartel of sugar processors.

“The sugar program is a hidden expense that costs small businesses and
consumers $2.4 – $4 billion each year, according to the American
Enterprise Institute. Furthermore, according to the Census Bureau, the
program killed about 123,000 jobs between 1997 and 2015. And the
Department of Commerce estimated that for every sugar-producing job
protected through high U.S. sugar prices, about three manufacturing jobs
are lost.

“The Sugar Modernization Act of 2017 will create an adequate supply of
sugar based on fairness and competitiveness for everyone in the supply
chain from the farm to the retail shelf. The bill will not hurt sugar
farmers. It will reform the burdensome, restrictive regulations on sugar
imports and eliminate market allotments, both of which have hampered
domestic production, stifled international trade, and benefited a few
wealthy sugar processors. This legislation also ensures there will be no
costs to taxpayers by eliminating a subsidy that requires the federal
government to sell sugar at a net loss to ethanol companies after sugar
prices fall below guaranteed levels.

“S. 2086 and H.R. 4265 provide the necessary, market-oriented changes
that will bring American sugar policy into the twenty-first century. We
urge you to support this legislation, because reforming the sugar
program will benefit consumers, food manufacturers, taxpayers, and the
economy.”